Listening to Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge

I needed to take a break from my previous book, Reign of Madness: King’s Dark Tidings, Book 2 (it’s an okay book but I am getting a little tired of the Mary Sue main character and some incessant whining from the lead female character) and saw that a couple of books by Larry Correia and John Ringo (John is the author writing in the now shared universe of Monster Hunter International (MHI)) had been released that I either missed or glossed over during the summer of ’16.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is what I’m currently listening to. It’s got all of the hallmarks of the previous MHI series; guns, guns, more guns, military tactics and surprisingly good prose that makes me chuckle (and makes my wife look at me like I’m crazy:)).

The ‘memoirs’ referred to in the title are the found archives or diaries of former MHI members and delve into past missions (Grunge encompasses the mid to late 80’s) that take place prior to the first novel, Monster Hunter International. Readers of the previous novels will recognize mentions of events that are referenced by Grunge’s main character, Chad “Iron Hand” Gardnier. Note that the author has succeeded in leaving teasers not spoilers so it all works out.

From a gaming perspective I always thought that the HERO System was not the most ideal choice to emulate the MHI ‘verse – MHI Employee Handbook and RPG. While the novels are gun porn to the extreme most gaming systems that have that much focus on the weapon aren’t “fast” enough to emulate the level of action necessary. Something more akin to Savage Worlds or All Flesh Must Be Eaten would be my recommended systems of choice.